Philly Notebook: Gonzalez Impresses In Debut

KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Giancarlo Gonzalez has not had a lot of time to get used to his
new surroundings. So when it came time to put out a lineup for today’s game against Philadelphia,
Crew coach and sporting director Gregg Berhalter posed a question to the Costa Rican center
back.

“I asked him if he wanted to play and to his credit his answer was ‘absolutely,’ ” Berhalter
said. “I’m proud of him and I think he did a good job.”

With just one training session under his belt with his new club, Gonzalez paired with Michael
Parkhurst in the middle of the Crew defense and had a solid first performance. The Crew earned a
1-0 win against the Union and improved to 2-0 in the Disney Pro Soccer Classic.

“I think you can learn a lot about a guy and how he hangs in there mentally,” Berhalter said of
Gonzalez. “He was signed yesterday. He flew halfway around the world and he was in limbo about when
it would get done. Then he was in medical after training, but I think that shows a lot about him. “

It wasn’t all sunshine, however – not including a 50-minute rain delay to open the game.
Goalkeeper Steve Clark had to make several saves in the first 10 minutes and the Crew attack
struggled to find traction for long portions of the first half.

In the end, Berhalter lauded his team’s persistence in finding a way to close out the game.
Federico Higuain’s penalty in the 87th minute set the score.

“It’s nice to get a result,” Clark said. “It’s just preseason, but still, it’s better to win
that lose, right? I thought that we found our rhythm as the game went on. Obviously I made a couple
saves in the first 10 to keep us in it. It’s just another day and let’s keep on going.”

The final substitution came in the 76th minute, when Ethan Finlay made his preseason debut in
relief of Anor. That meant six players – Higuain, Tchani, Trapp, Francis, Parkhurst and Clark – all
played the full 90 minutes.

“We pushed the minutes,” Berhalter said. “We obviously wanted to build on our last performance
and in some aspects I think we did. I think in some aspects we had a little bit of difficulty
creating chances, that final pass. I think the field had a lot to do with it, being slick. Our
timing was a little bit off, but in general I would say the character of the guys just to keep
going and not give up or get down on themselves was good.”

Clark earned the start after Matt Lampson played the entire game Wednesday against Toronto FC,
allowing just an own goal in the 3-1 win.

“I think he did good,” Berhalter said of Clark. “One of the reasons we got him was because of
his quickness in reading the game. He came off his line really well a couple of times today to stop
their attacks.”

I asked Berhalter if he was starting to see some separation between players in regards to the
starting lineup.

“A little bit, but I think there’s still some spots up for grabs,” he said.

Injury updateDaniel Paladini remained inactive as he deals with what Berhalter told me Friday is fluid in
his knee. He is yet to see preseason action.

Forward Aaron Schoenfeld was also unavailable after he injured an ankle earlier today, Berhalter
said. He was spotted leaving the team bench with the aid of crutches. Schoenfeld is the only player
signed to the roster not to see action this preseason.

Up nextThe Crew has two games remaining before returning to Columbus to prepare for the March 8
season opener at D.C. United.

“We want to continue to build,” Berhalter said. “Obviously we’ll be off (Sunday) and it’s going
to be lighter on Monday as we prepare to play on Wednesday and finish out the week with a game but
this is our final preparation. We still have a long way to go in terms of how we want to play and
fine-tune things, but it’s a good start.